


Obvious

by helsinkibaby



Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Fictober 2019, Het, Pre series, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 08:47:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Kristen has to work late. Again.





	Obvious

**Author's Note:**

> For fictober day 8 “can you stay?”

“Okay, people, I know it’s getting late but bad guys don’t work nine to five.” Jubal’s voice carried easily over the hubbub of an FBI Field Office that had just caught a break in the case of a series of bank robberies that had left more than one NYPD officer fighting for his life. “This could be exactly what we’ve been waiting for! We need all hands on deck, so wash your face, grab some coffee and let’s get it done.” 

Kristen looked up from her screen as Maggie, standing beside her desk, leaned down. “If he tries to get us to win one for the Gipper, we’re calling Bellevue, right?” 

Kristen snickered, for one brief glorious moment imagining Jubal literally being dragged off, no doubt with pencil caught between his teeth to stop him from yelling. The image vanished quickly though, replaced by the man himself, approaching as if he knew they were talking about him. Which wouldn’t be a surprise, considering he was an FBI agent and all. “You ladies find something?” he asked and Maggie shook her head, recovering quickly. 

“Kristen’s still going through camera angles. I was about to grab her some of that coffee you just mentioned.” 

With that, she was gone, leaving Jubal looking after her, the faintest of frowns on his face. Kirsten pressed her lips together, looked back to her screen but she looked up quickly when Jubal’s fingertips grazed her shoulder, one of the many easy touches he usually graced her with during the day, easy to ignore if you weren’t looking for them. “You okay?” he asked and he actually did look concerned. “I know you were in early this morning... and late last night...”

In point of fact, she’d arrived and left at the same time as him but she knew that wasn’t what he was asking. “The bad guys don’t work nine to five, remember?” 

She kept her voice light but it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead Jubal tilted his head, his frown deepening. “True... but I don’t want to run my best people into the ground either.” A rush of pleasure went through her at that - it was nice to be appreciated after all. “Be honest with me... can you stay?” 

Kristen nodded, thinking wistfully of her apartment, her closet door with the little black dress hanging up on it, the strappy heels neatly beside it, just waiting for her to slip into. Ah well. “No problem.” 

“Good.” There was that little half smile that had haunted more of her dreams than it really should, along with another one of those little touches that made her shiver inside. 

And if her eyes lingered on him as he walked away, well, no-one noticed. 

Except of course for Maggie, who arrived back at just that moment with a cup of coffee in hand. “Not obvious at all,” she murmured, pulling over a chair and staring at Kristen’s screen like she was actually checking out what was on it. 

“What?” Kristen parried as best she could but she knew exactly what Maggie was getting at. This was not the first time they’d had this conversation. 

“How you hate to see him going but you love to watch him leave.” Maggie didn’t even try to hide the smirk in her tone, her eyes fairly dancing with mischief. 

Kristen felt her cheeks heat and she glanced around. “Why don’t you speak up, I don’t think they heard you in Quantico,” she muttered, stabbing at her keyboard without really looking. 

“Oh please, no-one noticed but me.” Maggie raised her cup to her lips, blew across the surface. “Especially not him.” 

Which was good news as far as Kristen was concerned. “Because there’s nothing to notice.” She was lying through her teeth and she could tell Maggie didn’t believe her in the slightest. “Besides, I was supposed to have a date tonight.” She reached out, grabbed her cell phone. “Not any more.” 

Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Cole? He’s still around?” 

An uncomfortable niggle made its way up Kristen’s spine, thinking of the way Cole had reacted the previous week when she’d been called into work unexpectedly. “For the moment.” She grimaced. “He’s getting pretty tired of playing second fiddle to the job.” 

Just how tired became obvious when she finally got him on the phone. “Work? Again?” His voice betrayed his impatience. “Let me guess... Jubal will be there.” 

“He’s my boss.” The protest was met with a snort and she felt her hackles rise. “That’s not fair.” 

“And constantly dumping me for work is?” There was a long silence. “Look, maybe we should just take this as a sign.” 

Kristen sighed. “Fine. I’ll see you around.” But she knew she wouldn’t. She should be sad at that, she thought. Cole was a perfectly nice guy, thoughtful and sweet and not so hard to look at, any woman would be delighted to date him. But the fact of the matter was, whenever he accused her, jokingly at first, then ever more seriously, of having a crush on her boss, she’d laughed it off, she’d rolled her eyes, she’d flat out told him he was wrong. 

But she knew he wasn’t. 

Still, this had been an ongoing thing ever since she’d started working with Jubal and if there was one thing she’d learned over the years, it was that her crush tended to ebb and flow like the tides. Sometimes it was just there in the background, like the soft whirr of a computer hard drive. Sometimes, like recently, it was more prevalent, more noticeable, a constant hum of attraction that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It would pass, she told herself, it always did. 

No matter what Maggie Bell might have to say about it. 

As it happened, she had plenty to say, because the lead that had cancelled Kirsten’s dinner plans turned out to be the lead that broke the case. With Maggie and the new guy, OA-don’t-call-me-Omar, leading the charge, the criminals were apprehended and put in cells and the mood in the bullpen was celebratory when they arrived back. Kristen high fived her friend, who looked over her shoulder at the clock on the wall. 

“Hey, it’s only nine o’clock,” she noted. “You might make your date with Cole after all.” 

Kristen wrinkled her nose, shook her head in the negative. “Not tonight,” she said and Maggie stuck her lower lip out in a pout, just the tiniest bit. Not too far though, because her eyes were dancing as she looked at something else over Kristen’s shoulder. Kristen suddenly had a good idea exactly what that something - or rather, someone - was and she turned slowly, making it look as if she was simply turning to give her congratulations to OA. What she saw out of the corner of her eye was just what she knew she would - Jubal, his hand on his hip, his eyes on her, his whole demeanor supremely casual. 

Too casual, she knew at once. 

She shook that thought off quickly. That way lay madness. 

She did such a good job of shaking it off that when he came up to her in the empty bullpen as she was pulling her coat on, she actually startled. “Hey, Kris,” he said, holding his hand up in apology when she wheeled around. “I just wanted to check... was Maggie right, you cancelled a date to stay here?” 

“It was no big deal,” she began but Jubal didn’t look happy to hear that. 

“You should have said you had plans.”

“We were working a case, it was running hot, I understand that.” 

Jubal lifted an eyebrow. “Does Cole?” 

Kristen pursed her lips, looked down. Jubal made a tsk-ing noise and she looked back up at him, making herself smile to see if that would stop him frowning. “We’re not going to see each other again,” she told him and his shoulders slumped, even if he didn’t exactly look unhappy. 

“I’m sorry... I of all people know what it’s like to have work wreck a relationship.” 

He’d mentioned the demise of his marriage once or twice, small little asides that she’d pieced together a pretty decent picture of what had gone wrong. “It’s not quite the same thing,” she told him and she meant it too. “It just wasn’t meant to be, that’s all.” 

“Still.” He shrugged, glanced towards the door. “Look, if you’re just heading home... you want to grab a bite to eat? There’s a Thai place I know near here...” 

“I love Thai.”

It was actually her favorite but she was still surprised to hear him say, “I know.” She froze, stared at him and the smile he gave her was uncertain somehow. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was nervous. “Seems the least I can do, since I ruined your date by asking you to stay.” 

Kristen took a deep breath, let it out slowly, almost afraid to believe the turn the evening had taken. “That sounds great.” 

It did sound great. 

And when, on the way to the restaurant, he slipped his hand into hers, his warm fingers wrapping around hers, it felt even better.


End file.
